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Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Next week I'll be attending a luncheon in Eugene (Oregon), the Annual Joint Meeting of the Eugene area doll clubs. I think this is the third year I've attended. I'm not a member of any Eugene clubs, but my friend Jean Peeters is, and has been most gracious in inviting Patti LaValley and myself to stay with her and attend the function. Jean's a wonderful hostess, makes wonderful dolls, and is very active in several Eugene doll clubs.

This year's luncheon theme is "Hats Off to Madame," with a slide show and history of Madame Alexander & Cissette. Attendees will bring their Madame Alexander dolls, and enter them in a competitive exhibit. There'll be quite a few categories in which to enter, and one of them is cloth. So I'm attempting to create a doll similar in style. I'm not a collector of Madame Alexander dolls nor am I familiar with them, so I bought a couple on eBay for reference.

This is a doll pattern I had on hand ~ "Izzie," designed by Sue Farmer in 2003*. I thought it would be a good starting point, and about the right size. She's about 13 1/2 inches tall, and is made from muslin. Today I'll be making her arms, sewing on her wig, and hopefully finishing her clothing.

Madame Alexander dolls have wonderfully chubby cheeks, but I just couldn't pop the cheeks out further on this doll.

This pattern can be found at the Yahoo group Cloth Dollmaking site. Thanks Stacy!